Purnendu Chatterjee, the co-promoter of Haldia Petrochemicals, is finally getting control of the petrochem outfit, considered the showpiece of industrialization of Bengal. The state government entered into an agreement with Chatterjee to transfer its 52.5 crore shares to TCG at the discovered price of Rs 25.10 offered by Indian Oil during the auction.
Chatterjee will pay close to Rs 1,320 crore in two tranches. An official said the biggest challenge of the petrochem firm is to restart and operate close to full capacity for which it needs an additional working capital of Rs 1,000 crore from the lenders. As per agreement, TCG has got little over two months' time to pay the first tranche of Rs 653 crore to the government and once it is paid, around 26 crore shares will be transferred to the group that will give it a clear majority stake of 56% and management control.
There is also a clause that immediately after assuming management control, TCG will withdraw all the cases filed against state government since 2005 except the arbitration case in International Chamber of Commerce in Paris for the controversial 15.5 crore shares.
"Both the state government and TCG will adhere to the arbitration of ICC," an official of HPL said.TCG chairman Purnendu Chatterjee confirmed the development. "We want to work with all the stakeholders, government, lenders, customers and suppliers," he added. Chatterjee also hailed the initiative of state government to revive HPL. "I appreciate the initiative of the state," he added. An official pointed out that prime lenders IDBI, SBI, PNB and ICICI had already held a meeting on August 28 to review the situation and a team of lenders also visited the plant to ascertain the working capital requirement. It has been learnt that Rs 1,000 crore is needed to run the plant at close to 80% capacity which is necessary for profitable running of the plant. The lenders have a total exposure of Rs 4,500 crore in HPL. According to sources, the state government has tagged the fiscal incentive to HPL with capacity utilization of plant. "VAT incentive is due for HPL. For Project Supermax to augment capacity, an incentive was due to HPL. But it could not avail it due to low-capacity operation. Now it has to avail it in five years which implies that the plant has to be run at high capacity," a state official said. HPL had invested over Rs 1,200 crore for Project Supermax to enhance Ethylin capacity.
State finance and industries minister Amit Mitra said, "The interest of the public at large and the interest of the state government is protected in the agreement." It may be noted that in order to come out of the purview of BIFR, HPL has transferred real estate under Haldia Real Estate Ltd (HREL) to Haldia Cracker Complex Ltd at the current market value which has turned HPL net worth positive.Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/
Chatterjee will pay close to Rs 1,320 crore in two tranches. An official said the biggest challenge of the petrochem firm is to restart and operate close to full capacity for which it needs an additional working capital of Rs 1,000 crore from the lenders. As per agreement, TCG has got little over two months' time to pay the first tranche of Rs 653 crore to the government and once it is paid, around 26 crore shares will be transferred to the group that will give it a clear majority stake of 56% and management control.
There is also a clause that immediately after assuming management control, TCG will withdraw all the cases filed against state government since 2005 except the arbitration case in International Chamber of Commerce in Paris for the controversial 15.5 crore shares.
"Both the state government and TCG will adhere to the arbitration of ICC," an official of HPL said.TCG chairman Purnendu Chatterjee confirmed the development. "We want to work with all the stakeholders, government, lenders, customers and suppliers," he added. Chatterjee also hailed the initiative of state government to revive HPL. "I appreciate the initiative of the state," he added. An official pointed out that prime lenders IDBI, SBI, PNB and ICICI had already held a meeting on August 28 to review the situation and a team of lenders also visited the plant to ascertain the working capital requirement. It has been learnt that Rs 1,000 crore is needed to run the plant at close to 80% capacity which is necessary for profitable running of the plant. The lenders have a total exposure of Rs 4,500 crore in HPL. According to sources, the state government has tagged the fiscal incentive to HPL with capacity utilization of plant. "VAT incentive is due for HPL. For Project Supermax to augment capacity, an incentive was due to HPL. But it could not avail it due to low-capacity operation. Now it has to avail it in five years which implies that the plant has to be run at high capacity," a state official said. HPL had invested over Rs 1,200 crore for Project Supermax to enhance Ethylin capacity.
State finance and industries minister Amit Mitra said, "The interest of the public at large and the interest of the state government is protected in the agreement." It may be noted that in order to come out of the purview of BIFR, HPL has transferred real estate under Haldia Real Estate Ltd (HREL) to Haldia Cracker Complex Ltd at the current market value which has turned HPL net worth positive.Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment